Serial killers. Trauma. The cutesy world of Cozy gaming is ready to confront the social ills it’s historically been accused of hiding from. Does this signal the end of Cozy’s rainbow, or the natural evolution of subculture? 

You’re probably aware of ‘Cozy’ with a capital C – the recent cultural phenomenon combining  dreamlike aesthetics, wholesome activities and soft ambient sounds, appearing in everything from design to music. ‘Cozycore’ has been likened to a shelter from the screaming intensity of social media and the outside world, where people are nice to each other and the vibe is always gentle. 

Cozy games have been growing in popularity since the pandemic too. Set in sparkling utopias, they often involve the building of some kind of community, possibly within nature, for a greater good. That could mean leaving your dead-end office job to take care of your grandfather’s farm, as in the hugely popular Stardew Valley, or running a sanctuary for animals, a recurring theme boasting countless titles. Anything low pressure, relaxing and unthreatening can fall under the broad and colourful Cozy umbrella. 

While this all may sound like child’s play, according to Nintendo, most players of their uber-Cozy Animal Crossing franchise are in their 20s and 30s. Temporary escape from the angst and burnout that typifies the Gen-Z existence is all part of the deal. 2020’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons outsold that year’s Call of Duty by 13 million.

Sounds pretty harmless, right? Not so simple. Some critics argue that Cozy games promote a form of toxic positivity, encouraging us to bury our heads in ‘perfect’ make believe worlds rather than changing anything about the real one. And a pair of forthcoming titles are set to turn this saccharine utopia on its head. 

On the surface, Grave Seasons looks like any other Stardew Valley farming copycat. Bright saturated colours, quaint landscapes. Except this idyllic community is being terrorised by a brutal murderer. And in Wanderstop, main character Alta believes her new low-stress job at a quaint tea shop will heal her past traumas, but she finds herself unable to outrun her inner demons, battling a violent past with a level of introspection unheard of in the genre so far.

Both of these titles mark a conscious subversion of the accepted Cozy narrative, and both have a huge buzz surrounding their release.

What does this tell us about culture? 

With its own language, signals, behavioural codes and creative output, it’s fair to think of Cozy as the defining Gen Z counter-culture, spreading its feathery pastel wings across an ever-increasing number of touchpoints.

But as the buzz around these games shows, that doesn’t mean those rules can’t be broken. Disruptors who challenge paradigms still have the power to excite. There’s always room for new stories and different perspectives within a cultural playbook. 

It may well be that breaking the ‘rules’ of subculture is the very thing that keeps it alive. 

Three key takeaways

• It’s important for brands to closely track the cultures and subcultures that they’re part of. Brands understand that the ephemeral signs and symbols of culture can shift in minutes and hours, and so are often tuned in to those changes, but what is often not seen is the gradual, longer term changes that take place to values and belief systems – and these are the changes to be paying attention to. 

• For the last decade gaming has rivalled television for the volume of time people spend with it, and it’s important for brands to understand that while gaming is a culture of its own, it also cuts across many other areas of popular culture too – ideas and trends that are born in gaming culture now spread quickly into many other areas too. While your brand might not need to have a voice in gaming, it needs to keep its ears open to it all the same. 

• It takes a little more trust, but platforming those boundary-pushing creatives who keep culture alive, whether in gaming, music, film and beyond, creates talking points and memorable moments. Would you have commissioned Baby Reindeer? Always remember; fortune favours the brave (and culture grows from the edges). 

To unlock more gaming insights, email discover@culturelab.co 

^{(Sources: CultureLab CultureIndex, September 2024)}